The plot is thickening in the CBI vs CBI scandal as four men belonging to the Intelligence Bureau (IB) were caught outside the official residence of CBI Director Alok Verma, who has been divested of his powers and sent on leave.
Union Home Ministry officials said the four men were on “routine patrol” duties in the high security area outside Verma’s 2 Janpath residence. The four men were taken away by police for questioned.
While sceptics feel that if this was a routine exercise then why these men were never spotted in the past before the CBI boss residence, IB sources said the office of the Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau is located close to Verma’s residence and its units keep tabs on the vicinity as part of routine drill keeping in mind the high threat perception to the area that houses a number of VIPs. The IB officials had halted on Janpath after spotting “unusual gathering of people at the location” in the morning to check the reasons for such a crowd.
The Delhi Police later released the four men after hours of questioning.
The four IB officials were identified as Dheeraj Kumar, Ajay Kumar, Prashant Kumar and Vineet Kumar Gupta.
According to sources in Delhi Police, Dheeraj Kumar and Ajay Kumar told the police they were junior IB officers, while the other two claimed to be seniors in the Bureau. The police are likely to register an FIR against PSOs of Verma under charges of obstructing Government servants on duty and beating them up.
As a video showing the men being dragged by Verma’s security officers went viral, the IB admitted that the men were its operatives.
Each IB operative was caught by at least two of Verma’s guards — in one case one man was held by his collar — and taken into Verma’s bungalow. “The men had been seen in their cars since Wednesday night, raising suspicion that they were spying on Verma,” said the source.
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and NCP chief Sharad Pawar live near the CBI Director’s official residence.
“This (routine patrol duty) is unlike surveillance, which is done without any visible appurtenances. One unit halted at Janpath where there was an unusual collection of people in the morning.
This was with a view to check the reasons, but it was made out to be an act of snooping following the manhandling of the men by the PSOs,” an official said.
In an unprecedented shake-up in the CBI’s 55-year-history, both Verma and his deputy, Special Director Rakesh Asthana, were divested of their powers and sent on leave in a dramatic overnight action by the Government on Tuesday night after a spate of allegations and counter allegations by the two top agency officials.